SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Olivia Miles called the left ankle that intermittently gave her problems over her comeback season at Notre Dame “annoying” just ahead of her first NCAA Tournament game in three years.
A day later, on Friday, in an impressive postseason reboot from the third-seeded Irish, that ankle was downright scary — at least for a few moments when a raucous Purcell Pavilion crowd collectively gulped and went silent as Miles crumpled to the floor after stepping on a defender’s foot.
The second-team All-America point guard spent the last 8:44 of a 106-54 NCAA women’s basketball tourney annihilation of 14 seed Stephen F. Austin in the ND locker room after writhing in pain, then limping off the court without assistance. The good-news postscript from Notre Dame head coach Niele Ivey to the only real blip in the lopsided first-round win is that she expects Miles to play in Sunday’s sequel.
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That would be a second-round 1 p.m. EDT matchup at ND’s Purcell Pavilion against 6 seed Michigan (23-10), which rallied in Friday’s first-round game on ND’s home court for an 80-74 survival of 11 seed Iowa State (23-12). The ND-Michigan game will be televised by ABC.
“She might be sore, but she should be OK.” Ivey said of Miles, a grad senior, who missed both ND’s 2023 and ‘24 NCAA Tourney runs with an ACL tear.
Everything else for Notre Dame (27-5) was way better than OK in their first game since being upset 61-56 by Duke on March 8 in the ACC semis, in the lowest-scoring game of the season for the Irish.
In the aftermath of ND’s third loss in five games, Ivey demanded a rededication to playing strong defense in the practices that followed a few days off to physically and mentally reset. And she got those defensive sparks in abundance on Friday.
The Irish held SFA to a season-low .328 from the field, and .269 where the Ladyjacks (29-6) typically thrive — the 3-point arc.
Additionally, Notre Dame coaxed 28 SFA turnovers, 18 of them on steals — five more than the previous season high for ND and third-most in their NCAA Tourney history spanning 91 games. The differential on points off turnovers was 38-5 in the game in favor or the Irish
“I was very focused on going back to the basics, challenging them with a lot of the practices,” Ivey said. “Made the practices extremely challenging, so we can get better. Just staying on things long until I felt like we had moved forward in progression with whatever we were doing.
“But that was my biggest focus. Individual pride and doing a great job with our team defense and communication.”
The offense wasn’t too shabby, either.
The 106 points is the second-most in Notre Dame’s 91-game NCAA Tourney history. And the Irish shot .562 from the field — the third-best mark of the season and the best in the last 21 games.
All 11 players in uniform for the Irish got in the scoring column, including Luci Jensen, one of three Irish walk-ons who logged court time, with her first points of her college career coming on a 3-pointer.
Five Irish scored in double figures, led by Hannah Hidalgo and Sonia Citron with 24 points each. Liatu King added 10 points and six rebounds in an efficient 15 minutes. And then there were grad senior forwards Maddy Westbeld and Liza Karlen.
Westbeld followed a scoreless 27 minutes against Duke with 12 points in 16 minutes on Friday. It was the first time in seven games Westbeld had hit double figures, and she reached that by halftime and went 5-for-7 from the field for the game.
“My focus is on leading this group and playing with a chip on my shoulder,” Westbeld said in the locker room after the game. “And so, coming out, we knew exactly what the game plan was. We knew what was going to be open in their matchup zone, and so I was incredibly confident in myself and what I can bring.”
Karlen brought it too — 13 points and 10 rebounds, for her first double-double in an Irish uniform. She shot 6-for-7 from the field in her 25-minutes of court time, making her only 3-point attempt, and also contributing four assists, three steals and a blocked shot.
“Just being in the tournament and being in position to win a game is so awesome,” Karlen said. “I’ve never been in that position before. Also, it’s just kind of now or never to finish my career on a strong note.”
Karlen played in three NCAA Tournament games during her four-year career with Marquette, all first-round losses. That included a 67-55 setback to Ole Miss at Purcell Pavilion last March in Karlen’s last game in a Golden Eagles uniform before entering the transfer portal.
“She was all over today,” Westbeld noted of Karlen, “and she came in and made such an incredible impact with her energy. Coach always says she’s a workhorse, and it’s so true.
“She fuels us in a lot of things she does on the court. She just never stops. Her motor never stops, and it’s really good for this group.”
Especially after SFA jumped out to an early 8-2 lead. The Irish, though, answered with a 22-2 run that included a putback basket and a 3-pointer from Karlen. The Ladyjacks scored the first three points of the second half, but ND counterpunched with a 12-0 surge for a 58-28 lead.
Even those ND players who weren’t big scorers on Friday — Miles and freshman center Kate Koval contributed in other ways, including defensively. Miles also had eight assists and just one turnover in 31 minutes while scoring two points. Koval had four blocked shots, three assists and three steals to go along with her four points.
“I think we have a lot of firepower,” Hidalgo said. “Honestly, everybody plays well together. Whoever is coming in we know we're able to adjust. We played with these girls all season, so it's easy to adjust to whoever is coming in.
“We trust coach Ivey's substitution. Like when Kate is coming in, we know to feed her the ball. It's easy playing with the girls. We all know each other well.”
And now they’re working to get to know Michigan, a team that Irish have faced 21 times in their history but just once in an NCAA setting — an 88-54 Irish romp during ND’s 2001 national title run.
“I’m going to go back and watch a ton of film now,” Ivey said. “I watched a little bit before. But they play with such heart. They play really hard. They have high motors, great guards. It’s almost like playing five guards, because they all can shoot the 3.
“But I’m really impressed with how hard they play. It’s going to be a battle. I’m excited to get to work and get to prepare for them.”
And with Miles an apparent part of that preparation.
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